During World War II the United States War Department produced guides like this to introduce
soldiers to the language in the area where they were stationed.
This particular guide book was used in the China-Burma-India Theater by soldiers in southeastern
China. The guide was issued in 1943 and indicates that Cantonese was spoken by more
than 30 million people in the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi.

This page features the cartoons that were used to help illustrate the use of the language and
to "lighten up" an otherwise monotonous explanation. Although the subject matter was a very serious
introductory lesson on the Cantonese language, the illustrations were meant to be light-hearted
and are funny to view.

The guide book was intended for use with companion phonograph records.

Mouths used to speaking English sometimes had trouble forming Cantonese words!

Timid soldier gets the word from his sergeant.

According to the guide book, "Cantonese is a little like singing."

An important subject covered in the guide book was numbers and counting.

Special thanks to Gary Goldblatt for providing the original booklet on which this page is based.